Good an Italian war film – that which is an oxymoron: an expression that contradicts itself.
Sure Rome, the open city (1944) was a war film – and what a film! Anna Magnani was so charming that Yuri Gagarin wanted to send the first greetings from space to her. (Then he also remembered the target of the salutes, the Soviet people.) But that film has a civilian point of view, without actual warfare, which is a distant theme for Italians. If you're looking for their exploits as warriors, it's best to go back to ancient Rome.
Now I have seen a good Italian war film. Commander (directed by Edoardo De Angelis) opened the Venice Festival. In Finland, it was seen at Hanko's tiny film festival.
The plot is based on a true incident. In October 1940, an Italian submarine sank a Belgian merchant ship in the Atlantic, which was taking airplane parts and other war supplies from America to England. Against the orders, the captain of the submarine, Salvatore Todaro, decided to take on board 26 shipwrecked Flemish and take them to the Azores, the territory of neutral Portugal.
It worked. When going ashore, the Belgian captain asks the Italian why you did this. Todaro does not repeat his previous arguments – humanity, the ancient law of the seas that requires helping the shipwrecked, even religion, because he introduces himself to the Belgians only by his first name, which means Savior (a common name in Sicily, many mafiosos also received it at baptism). Now the captain answers the colleague's question: because we are Italian.
His story attached is a film about Swedish Italianness: there are tribes like ours In The Unknown Soldier, the marching song resembles a love song, and the Neapolitan chef is the central character. Once in the Azores, he asks what delicacy the Belgians would like. Ranuja, as today's kids here know. The grim expressions of the Italians are worth seeing. Is it food?
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Sufficient hardness, but humanity at the same time.
Above all, the film is a strong voice for the national debate raging in Italy today about how to deal with the wave of refugees flooding across the Mediterranean. Not indicatively or as a direct solution model, but as a reminder of the importance of preserving humanity in all circumstances.
Same the question is bubbling at our eastern border. It would be nice to adjust the peace cannons and accept the refugees on the basis of humanity. But the question is Russia's attempt to bully and destabilize Finland. It is well known there that Finns strive to follow the rules and are so honest that from their point of view it is already stupidity. We are trying to use it to our advantage.
The Russian leadership does not care about the refugees and their fate. The attitude is the same as that of Admiral Karl Dönitz, who led the German U-Boots to the Italian rescue operation: this is a war, not a mission. If only we here under pressure could not derail so deeply. Sufficient hardness, but humanity at the same time.
About the facts silence, staging and outright lying have easily returned to Russia's foreign policy arsenal as in the days of the Mainila shots. Finland is blamed for closing the border and other problems, even though the neighbor has created the situation with his own actions. NATO membership is presented as Finland's malice without mentioning at all that we were joined by NATO President VV Putin by attacking Ukraine. When promising difficulties for Finland, he still laughs like the person accused of Vastamo's data breach and blackmail in court before the lawyer advised the basic readings of the face.
Putin hardly needs advice, he is a lawyer himself.
The author is a professor emeritus of political history at the University of Helsinki.
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